Horace ckofoot



' @minutieuse @stent @frn HORACE CROFOOT, OF OAK. PARK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO H'IMSELF AN D4 T. W. V. P. MERCEREAU. y A

Leners Paf-ent No. 64,637, dated May 14, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN PRESSING BRIGKS.

@tige dgehule referto tu iu tlgese rtters atcnt mit making nu nf tige time.

'ro ALL wHoM Ir MAY eoNeERN:

Be it known that I, HORACE CROFOOT, of Oak Park, in the county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Pressing Bricks; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in. the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specilication.

This invention relates to a new and. useful improvement in pressing bricks from dry clay. The object of the invention is to compress the dry clay in such a manner that atmospheric air will be expelled therefrom, whereby the pressed clay or unburnt bricks are preventedfrom cracking while being burnt, a contingency which atpresent causes many imperfect bricks, owing to the cracking ofthe same by the expansion of the air in them under the heat of the kiln. In the accompanying sheet of drawings- Figure l, Sheet No. 1, is a vertical section of my invention, taken in the line :c x, iig. 2.

Figure, Sheet No. 2, a front view of the same.

Figure 3, a section of a portion ofthe same, taken in the line y y, iig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts. 1

A represents an upright frame, in which two horizontal shafts, B B', are lfitted, and connected aty enc end ybv Gear-wheels O C. These shafts B B are laced one directl Y over the other in the same axial lane, and on the y n I) .l P

upper shaftB there is firmly keyed a cam, D, which givesa vertical reciprocating movement to a frame, E, fitted within the framing A, thc exterior surface or periphery of the permanent portion of the cam forcing the frame E downward, and a groove, a, in cach side of the cam, and extending entirely around it,and in which grooves pins b on the frame'E fit, drawing the frame upward. The periphery of the, cam' D works against a frictionroller, c, on the frame E.- Thisl frame E has a series 0f pend'ent-"plungers, E, attached, having convex surfaces of faces, as shown clearly'at Z inVg-jS. On the lower shaft B there is secured aicam,` G, which acts against a friction-roller, c', ir. a frame, vII, in the framing A,and throws said frame upward. This frame lIJI is provided with a series of plungers, I, on its upper surface, said plungers having horizontal or plane upper surfaces, e, as

shown in tig. 3. In the framing A, between thetwo frames E H, there is permanently secured a plate, J, having a series of moulds, ,fi-in it, which correspond in position or in line with the plungers FI ofthe frames E'II. (See more particularly hg. The mouldsf are formed with bevelled or inclinedsides, so that the upper parts ofthe moulds will be wider than the lower parts. This is also shown clearly in fig. 3. K represents what may be termed a carrier, composed of a block or plate having openings, y, in it, corresponding in number, position, and dimensions'to the mouldsfin which the clay is compressed. This carrier has t'wo bars, z, attached, which project outward from it, and are connected by pivots z' z' to arms L L on a shaft, M, on one end of which there is secured 'a cam, N, of V form, having a friction-roller,j, at its lower end. (See fig. 1.) On the lower gear-wheel C', at its inner side,'there is secured a curved projection, O, which acts against the cam N and operates the carrier K. Pis a hopper, attached to the framing A, and into which the clay to be operated upon is placed.

The operation is as follows: The clay falls from vthe -hopper P into the opening y of the carrier K when said openings are underneath the latter, and the carrier is shoved forward over the mould-plate J, when the projection O strikes the roller j in the lower end of cam N, and the clay thereby fed to the moulds f, the carrier being instantly moved back in consequence of the projection O striking against the upper end of cam N. The power may be applied to the upper gearlwheclsO, and hence both shafts B B with their cams D Gr will be turned simultaneously, and their cams always kept in a proper relative position with eachother. As soon as the carrier K is moved back free from the moulds f, the upper frame' E is forced down by the action of the cam D, the plunger-s F compressing the clay in the moulds f, while the plungers I remain stationary. The plungers I then are raised under the action of the cam G upon the frame II, and the compressed clay is raised in the mouldsj, the plungers-Falso rising. By this means .the compressed clay is raised upward in the mouldsf where the bevel of their sides commences, and while the plungers I are still rising the plungcrs F again descend with a gradual movement, the clay being subject to pressure at both tcp and bottom, thel convex surfaces d of the plungers F acting upon the central part of the cl'av in the moulds, so that all the atmospheric air contained in the clay will be forced through and out of the clay from the centre outward to their sides, where it is allowed to escupe. By this'menns the clay is irnrlyeompressed'und atmospheric air expelled therefrom, and the cracki115r of the brick while being` burnt in the kiln consequently avoided.

I-Iuvingvthus described my invention, I claim as new, and desire to Secure by Letters Patent- 1. The fixed mould-plate J, und reciprocating plungers F I, when arranged to operate as shown, or in nu equivalent manner, so that the clay, after being subjected to one pressure in the moulds f, will be raised therein to their wider. parts and subjected to a gradual pressure by both sets of' plunger-s in order to expel the atmospheric air from the clay, substantially as'deseribed.

Providing the upper plungers'F with convex faces d, when said plungers, thus constructed, are used in connection with moulds f having inclined sides, and also used with u set of lower plungers, I, to raise the clay in the moulds afterbeing subjected to one pressure, substantially :is und for the purpose set forth.

x HORACE CROFOOT.

Witnesses:

C. A. HINCKLEY, C. D Cnoroor. 

